AKIPS

Install & upgrade guide

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© 2022 AKIPS Holdings Pty Ltd

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means, nor modified,
decompiled, dissembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic
medium or other means, without the written consent of AKIPS Holdings Pty Ltd.

All rights, title and interest in and to the software documentation are and shall remain the exclusive
property of AKIPS and its licensors.

All other trademarks contained in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Disclaimer
While the publisher (AKIPS Pty Ltd) has taken every precaution in the preparation of this guide to ensure
that the information and instructions contained herein are accurate at the date of publication, it makes no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind, and disclaims all responsibility for errors or omissions. The
publisher assumes no liability for incidental or consequential losses or damages in connection with, or
arising out of, the use of the information contained herein.

Edition Software release Date

18 22.10 December 2022

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Table of Contents
1 About this guide ...................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Text conventions ................................................................................................................................................. 3

2 Platform requirements ............................................................................................................................. 4

2.1 Software ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.1 CPU .............................................................................................................................................................. 5
2.1.2 Storage......................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.3 VMware ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Hardware ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

3 Installing AKIPS............................................................................................................................................ 6
3.1 Install AKIPS: ...................................................................................................................................................... 6

4 Discovering your network .......................................................................................................................... 13

4.1 Discover your network: ...................................................................................................................................... 13

5 AKIPS licence .............................................................................................................................................. 15

5.1 Request an AKIPS evaluation key:...................................................................................................................... 15
5.2 Activate an AKIPS licence: .................................................................................................................................. 15

6 Upgrading AKIPS......................................................................................................................................... 16
6.1 Case study .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
6.2 Upgrade AKIPS: ................................................................................................................................................. 16

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 ABOUT THIS GUIDE

1 About this guide

The AKIPS Install & upgrade guide assists users to install and upgrade AKIPS Network Monitoring
Software.

1.1 Text conventions

Menu options are in bold.

E.g. Go to Admin > System > System Settings

Bold is also used for emphasis or clarity.

E.g. The backup server must have double the disk space of the production server.

Websites and email addresses are in blue. E.g. https://www.akips.com

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 PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS

2 Platform requirements
AKIPS is engineered for a VM environment.

Before installing AKIPS, ensure that your platform meets the following minimum requirements:

Number of interfaces Minimum requirements

up to 100,000 VM
2+ CPU cores
8 GB RAM
200 GB disk space

100,000 to 250,000 VM
4+ CPU cores
16 GB RAM
500 GB disk space

250,000+ VM
8+ CPU cores
32 GB RAM
1 TB disk space

If you are installing AKIPS onto a backup server, double the disk space listed.
(Refer to the ‘Backing up AKIPS’ chapter in the AKIPS Backup & Restore guide.)

To view the video Deploying AKIPS on a VM vs hardware, visit

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/524030745

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 PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS

2.1 Software

2.1.1 CPU

AKIPS requires dedicated CPUs.

CPU cores which are shared between VMs on a VM host will lead to CPU resource starvation.

This typically leads to:

• jumps in time
• gaps in polling
• false outage reports.

2.1.2 Storage
AKIPS runs a realtime database. Its performance depends on sequential read/write performance, and
minimal storage fragmentation and latency.

AKIPS requires:

• preallocated/thick (not thin) provisioning

• eager (not lazy) zeroed.

2.1.3 VMware
When configuring a VMware guest:

• use an emulated LSI SCSI controller

• lock the MAC address to the VM.

2.2 Hardware
We recommend installing and evaluating AKIPS in a VM environment before investing in any hardware.

All hardware must be compatible with our FreeBSD OS.

AKIPS monitors 1,000,000+ interfaces without specialised hardware. However, it may require a
dedicated RAID storage system instead of a SAN or NAS. In this case, contact support@akips.com to
discuss your specific configuration needs.

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

3 Installing AKIPS
To view the video Installing AKIPS, visit https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/521646329

3.1 Install AKIPS:

Go to https://www.akips.com/download

In the Install & upgrade section, click Download. Read the AKIPS Software Licence Agreement.

Click Install & Upgrade ISO only if you agree to the terms.

Graphic 1 Accepting the AKIPS licence agreement

Create the VM and attach the installer disk image file (ISO). Configure the VM settings and boot.

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

At the AKIPS Network Monitor screen, select Install.

Graphic 2 Starting the AKIPS installation

At the RISK OF DATA LOSS screen, select Yes.

At the Keymap Selection screen:

• hit Enter to select the default or

• scroll to select your preference and then hit Enter.

Graphic 3 Configuring the keymap

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

At the Set Hostname screen, type a valid hostname.domain Hit Enter.

Graphic 4 Setting the hostname

Enter a password. This will apply to the root, akips and admin accounts.
Retype the password to confirm.
Hit Enter.

Graphic 5 Setting the password

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

At the Network Configuration screen, select a network interface.

Select OK.

At the IPv4 prompt, select Yes.

At the DHCP prompt, select No.

At the Network Configuration: Static Network Interface Configuration screen, complete the following
text fields:

• IP address
• subnet mask
• default router.

Select OK.

Graphic 6 Configuring the static network interface

At the IPv6 prompt, select No.

At the Network Configuration: Resolver Configuration screen, enter at least one DNS address.

Select OK.

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

Graphic 7 Configuring the network resolver

At the Network Time Protocol Configuration screen, enter the NTP server address.

Select OK.

Graphic 8 Configuring the network time protocol

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

Review the Verify hardware clock screen:

• if the clock is set to local time, select Yes

• if the clock is not set to local time, select No.

On the following timezone screens, select your applicable timezone.

Graphics 9 &10 Configuring the hardware clock and timezone

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 INSTALLING AKIPS

After AKIPS has finished installing, select OK to reboot the server.

Graphic 11 Rebooting the server

AKIPS will run a number of processes which will not require you to take any action.

AKIPS will prompt you to log in with your admin account.

To finalise the installation process, click Accept License.

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 DISCOVERING YOUR NETWORK

4 Discovering your network

AKIPS runs its network discover based on IP address ranges and SNMP parameters.

4.1 Discover your network:

Log into AKIPS with your admin account.

Go to Admin > Discover > Discover / Rewalk.

Using the guidance on the right-hand side, complete the Discover / Rewalk panel.
Ensure that you complete both:
• Ping Scan Ranges
• SNMP Parameters.

Click Save Changes.

Graphic 12 Configuring the discover settings

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 DISCOVERING YOUR NETWORK

Click Discover.

When AKIPS has finished discovering your network, it will display a message in green.

Wait for five minutes, then check the following tables:

• Reports > Device > IPv4 Ping Statistics

• Reports > Interface > Statistics

If the tables populate with data, then AKIPS is working.

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 AKIPS LICENCE

5 AKIPS licence
To view the video AKIPS licence, visit https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/514080623

5.1 Request an AKIPS evaluation key:

Log into AKIPS with your admin account.

On the homepage, click Software Activation. Click Request Evaluation Key.

Complete all mandatory text fields. Click Request a Trial Key.

AKIPS will display a message to confirm that we are processing your request.

5.2 Activate an AKIPS licence:

After the AKIPS team has emailed a licence key to you, copy the key. Log into AKIPS with your admin
account.

On the homepage, click Software Activation. Paste the key into the Licence Key text field.

Click Activate Licence.

When AKIPS has successfully activated your licence, it will display a message in green.

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 UPGRADING AKIPS

6 Upgrading AKIPS
AKIPS recommends that you always upgrade to the latest version.

To view the video Upgrading AKIPS, visit https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/516553339

6.1 Case study

When a customer tried to upgrade AKIPS, the SHA256 matched the release notes, yet the received the
error message ‘Package has incorrect checksum’.

He was able to successfully upgrade when he used a different browser (Firefox instead of Chrome).

6.2 Upgrade AKIPS:

Go to https://www.akips.com/download

In the Install & upgrade section, click Download.

Click Install & Upgrade ISO.

Save the file onto your computer.

The software will download, displaying the version number in the filename.
E.g. akips-21.7-upgrade.iso

Log into AKIPS with your admin account.

Go to Admin > System > Update.

Click Browse to locate the downloaded file.

Click Open.

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 UPGRADING AKIPS

Graphic 13 Locating and opening the software update file

Click Start Upgrade.

After the upload has completed, AKIPS will automatically upgrade the software.

Graphic 14 Upgrading AKIPS

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 UPGRADING AKIPS

If the upgrade is for the AKIPS software only:

AKIPS will update the version details on the menu bar and resume monitoring your network.

If the upgrade is for both the OS and AKIPS software:

AKIPS will reboot your OS.

Refresh your browser to continue using AKIPS.

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